Yesterday was a good day. I got a text from my daughter with a link to a recipe that she tried and liked. She thought I might too. And my son called thanking us for the wok we gave him and told us about the Szechuan stir fry he had made.
Neither of my kids wanted to learn to cook. It was work. Food was something that just should appear at the table. It was the job of the adults of the family to make the food.
I didn’t have that point of view. As members of the family, they needed to contribute. Also, cooking is a life skill everyone needs to learn. And I wanted them to be able to make themselves a meal when they left our home – or when my husband and I went out.
So, they started to learn. We started with easy breakfast foods like scrambled eggs and French toast. Then we moved on to some of their favorites like Ham Sliders and Meatball Sandwiches. This made them more confident in the kitchen and proud of their skills. That led to them finding recipes and trying things on their own. And now they teach their friends to cook.
We had fun together. My kids learned some skills. And I taught my kids how to take care of themselves – which, as their mother, is my job.
